


"I slept on the sub,"

by doeful



Category: Lost
Genre: 70s fic, Gen, Juliet and Miles friendship, M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Sickfic, Whump, dan dan needs sleep
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-19
Updated: 2020-08-19
Packaged: 2021-03-06 07:28:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,713
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25999750
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/doeful/pseuds/doeful
Summary: "“I’m fine,” he assured her, giving a subtle nod and smile. “Just a little woozy from the medicine, I suppose.” It was only after he said the words that he realized that lying to someone who had been dishonest for a living wasn’t the best idea. "Daniel hasn't been sleeping.
Relationships: Miles/Daniel (if you squint)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 6





	"I slept on the sub,"

“I slept on the sub, I’m fine.”

Daniel dropped his bags onto the tackily patterned linoleum tile of the Barracks kitchenette, squinting in the shafts of sunlight that beamed through the small window. The afternoon sunlight felt like it was boring into his head the more he looked at it, every dancing particle of dust in the sunbeams worsening each throb of his headache.

“It’s as small as I remember,” He continued, trying to change the subject before anyone could see him flinch in the bright light.

“It’s not that bad, we can make it work as long as everyone _puts their shoes away correctly,_ ” Juliet cast a sidelong glance to the open door leading into James’ room, slender hands closed around the generic Dharma-branded mug as she gently set it on the counter.

“It _sucks_ ,” Miles’ voice came from somewhere on the cloth sofa, though all Daniel could see were his work boots hanging over one of the arms. “Windows are too small to sneak out through. Or maybe I’m getting bigger.”

Miles’ snide remark was a relief, after a month in Ann Arbor he’d grown accustomed to brisk, cold conversations between researchers. The walls of the Dharma-supplied sleeping quarters at the HQ were smooth, white, and empty. Though Daniel wasn’t one for oppressively loud plaid or psychedelic patterned curtains, he had to say it was better than sleeping somewhere that looked like a prison.

Juliet quickly moved to take his bags, having to squeeze around him in order to fit between the counters of the tiny kitchen.

“I can make you a fresh pot of coffee,” She nodded to the now room-temperature dregs of that morning’s pot, sitting atop the hot plate that was nestled into a corner. Daniel hesitated. He wasn’t used to having her around, nor used to being welcomed like this to their little house. He had a hard time accepting favors from people, but something about Juliet’s presence made him nod subtly.

“Yes, that would be fine.” He leaned against the cool tile counter, staring out over the half-wall to where Miles’ shoes swung back and forth restlessly over the arm of the sofa, each kick rustling the thick, baggy material of his jumpsuit.

“So, meet anybody at Ann Arbor?” Miles called in that sing-song tone of his; Daniel could tell he was smirking even though he couldn’t see his face. “I’m not really a fan of the scientist type, but I could help wingman.”

“Only friends I’ve made there were the copier and the coffeemaker.” It was true, but not the _entire_ truth. His first day off-island he’d seen a researcher with fiery red hair striding by his table; the sight felt like a knife had been plunged into his chest and twisted. Fortunately, the staff considered him enough of a ‘prodigy’ to give him his own quarters in which to hole up. Even looking at someone else felt like a betrayal; he should be spending his time trying to fix this mess–the mess _he_ made­–instead of making friends.

“We don’t even _have_ copiers yet!” Miles groaned, “New security head made me retype things, the disrespect! Sheesh, and made me work through lunch to boot. I mean, I _may_ have called him an asshat for calling me in on short notice, but it wasn’t that mean.”

Daniel startled as Juliet slipped silently past him, moving to the coffeemaker.

“Didn’t you break one of his favorite mugs or something like that?” Her tall, slender frame covered Daniel’s view of the coffeemaker as she reached into the shadowy depths of an overhead cabinet. His head swung back to Miles as he replied,

“First of all, it was the mug his girlfriend gave him, and second of all, I didn’t break it. I’ve never even seen it before in my life.” He punctuated his exasperation by kicking off his boots onto the shag carpet.

The second the soles hit the ground, Juliet was quick to admonish him,

“Put those up please, Miles,” She said, without even turning around. Miles huffed and eased himself up off the less-than-tasteful couch to ferry his boots to the entryway closet.

“It sounds like you’ve been making more enemies than friends,” Daniel mustered up enough strength to comment, shifting so that his bony elbows rested on the counter. The coolness of the countertop was soothing; he wished he could put it against his forehead for some relief from the headache. Coffee was starting to sound like an amazing idea. He’d already had, what–three or four?–cups since he first hit the dock, but they seemed to bounce off of him ineffectively.

“I’ve been making friends!” Insisted Miles, kicking his boots into the closet and shutting the door. “Like _Phil_ , we’re best buddies. Every night we paint each other’s nails and tell our deepest secrets.” He quickly walked to the opposite side of the half-wall where Dan was, standing on his tiptoes to lean over the flat-topped molding.

“C’mon Dan, let’s go out and do whatever scientists do for fun, like memorize their times tables or something.” He lowered his voice in a mock whisper, “Look, I’ve been playing matchmaker with Ford and Juliet and it’s like trying to get two rocks to kiss, I need _some_ kinda victory.”

Miles wasn’t exactly the matchmaker type, but he was certainly the get-up-in-other-people’s-business type. Daniel glanced over his shoulder to where Juliet was setting out mugs on the counter.

“He’s been a handful, I’m guessing?” He cursed the slight waver in his voice as he bit back a yawn.

“Oh yes, we’ve had to take turns babysitting,” Juliet replied. Miles craned his neck to see behind Dan, feigning a scowl.

“Oh, come _on,_ don’t act like you didn’t go out there with me to spy on Horace that one time–and _don’t_ say you were coming out there to stop me, because you did a terrible job.”

Daniel had to admit, it was extremely surreal seeing Juliet with a genuine smile on her face. He noted how much healthier she looked as she walked across the kitchenette to deliver Dan’s coffee. He smiled and nodded his thanks.

It was strange, seeing her and Miles getting along. They weren’t exactly enemies, but Miles made his distaste for Linus’ people obvious. Daniel couldn’t exactly blame him, but he thought it was strange how things turned out; one of the people their boss had sent them to kill was now laughing and drinking coffee in a kitchen with them.

He’d only been away for, what–a month? Four weeks? Time was a mess in his head, every five minutes felt like an hour and every hour felt like five minutes. Trying to ignore the fog in his head, Daniel quickly reached for his cup and downed a few gulps, perhaps a bit faster than he should have.

“Are you sure you’re alright, Daniel? Being drugged on the sub doesn’t count as sleep.” He glanced over at Juliet for a brief second but couldn’t hold her gaze. She was no doubt staring at the bags he’d accumulated under his eyes during his research.

“I’m fine,” he assured her, giving a subtle nod and smile. “Just a little woozy from the medicine, I suppose.” It was only after he said the words that he realized that lying to someone who had been dishonest for a living wasn’t the best idea.

But he _was_ fine, wasn’t he? Nothing a little coffee and Miles buzzing in his ear couldn’t fix. It was hard to notice whenever he started drifting off while researching; pouring himself another hot cup of caffeine seemed like a reflex in Ann Arbor. But after a while, he didn’t feel tired anymore. He knew, logically, he was exhausted; the human body couldn’t run on six hours of sleep total within the past few days.

One thing that hadn’t changed was how unreadable Juliet’s expression was, it was unnerving.

“If you say so.” She responded calmly, going back to retrieve her own cup. Daniel wasn’t sure whether he should be relieved. He hadn’t realized that the heat from the coffee had soaked into the mug and was beginning to burn his hands. Rather than jerk reflexively from the heat he simply let the mug clink onto the counter, staring dumbly at his reddened palms.

He had a hell of a time trying to get off the dock as well; he’d stood in the same place for a few minutes in the sweltering head before he realized his name had been called five or six times. He wrote down some things in the wrong areas of paperwork even after being given a clean sheet to try again, and it wasn’t until he was utterly lost in the maze of quaint yellow houses did he realize he’d read Ford’s directions wrong.

“ _Hellooo,_ Earth to Daniel.” He blinked, suddenly realizing that Miles had been waving a hand in front of his face. “They gave you the good stuff, huh? I just got plain old ‘tranqs.”

“I was just thinking,” He grabbed his cup and took another sip without thinking about it, hoping the burn on his hands would wake him up a little more. “Have you run into any incidents here? People who… you knew before that are here now. “

Juliet’s face went snow-white for a brief second as she froze in place over the sink. Daniel was relieved he’d chosen a distracting change of subject but felt guilty seeing her reaction. She said nothing.

“My mom’s here,” Miles’ eyes got wide for a moment. “Haven’t talked to her that much, but I was waiting line for pancakes and _boom_ , there she was.” His gaze moved quickly to the shadows. “Dad’s here too, apparently. Still as much of a prick as I’d imagined.”

“Did you talk to either of them?” Daniel couldn’t help being interested, that _was_ what he had come back to gauge, as well as see as any of the crew had lingering side effects from the flashes. Miles shrugged.

“I’d rather step on a nail than talk to my dad. They live like a few houses down, but I try not to talk to them at all. Weirds me out.” Daniel nodded.

“It’s… It’s _very_ important you try not to. I know… I said that ‘whatever happened, happened,’ but you still shouldn’t interact with them. It’s… It’s just the most logical theory I have; I’m very sure nothing here can be changed, but–just be careful…” He couldn’t help fumbling his words a little bit, the subject making his mouth feel dry.

“Don’t have to tell me twice,” Miles muttered, watching as Daniel downed the rest of his coffee.

“What do you think would happen? If, hypothetically, we attempted to change something, and it really worked?” Juliet asked thoughtfully, rinsing out her mug in the sink. Daniel thought for a moment her hands were shaking, but maybe it was just his mind playing tricks on him.

“I… I don’t know. It’s only been a month since I’ve gotten the proper tools to research everything, and even then, it’s not gonna be perfect.” He pushed himself up off the counter, carrying his mug to the sink. Juliet put out a hand to take it for him, but he rinsed it himself; he didn’t want to burden everyone more than he already had.

“Daniel,” He wasn’t sure if Juliet was really calling his name, or if he was just imagining it. Either way, he went on talking.

“I don’t know for sure what would happen, just that it might have the same kind of effect that the flashes did on–“

“ _Daniel,_ ” she cut him off, firmer this time. If she hadn’t, he was sure he’d have continued babbling on for a while. “Look at me.”

He blinked at her, confused. She took him in with a flicker of her keen, deep blue eyes. Taking a step forward, he felt her cold, slender fingers gently run across his cheek as she inspected his face, her hand coming to rest on his forehead as if she was taking his temperature.

“Is… something wrong?” He thought for sure he’d been caught, but after a moment of inspection Juliet stepped back.

“You look very tired.” She leaned her elbows on the edge of the sink basin. Her face was as calm and collected as ever, but there was an attentive shine to her eyes. He reached up subconsciously to touch the area where her fingers had once been; her cool palm on his forehead felt like painkillers to a wound, the icy coolness easing his headache for a brief second.

“I’m _fine_ ,” He said, perhaps a bit more harshly than he meant to, but it was hard to control how he sounded; everything felt like a knee-jerk reaction. Still, they were onto him. “I’ve been sleeping alright, even before the sub.”

Juliet’s brows knitted in a look of concern. “You should go lay down, the sub ride can be pretty tough, and it’s not like we’re going to be doing anything.” It was certainly tempting, but he shook his aching head as if to clear the thought. He shouldn’t even be thinking of sleep at a time like this, when he’s supposed to be working.

“It’s okay, really–I’m fine, thank you, Juliet.” He placed a hand on her shoulder unconsciously, something which he did pretty often. He started to get uncomfortable under her keen gaze. Daniel’s eyes glazed over the clock on the wall, which showed the time to be 14:15. _God, it’s so much later than I thought._

He moved to where Juliet had placed his briefcase on the table, fumbling with the gold latch and searching for the hastily scribbled notes he had placed inside.

Ann Arbor had much more extensive equipment than his Oxford lab could have ever held, which gave him a good opportunity to learn more about the long-term effects of the flashes and their radiation exposure. It wasn’t possible to _exactly_ recreate the conditions their flashes had occurred– the island was all but a mystery even to the scientists there–but it was enough to jot down a diagnosis and case study of varying severities of ‘time travel fatigue,’ as he had termed it.

“We need to go ahead and… uhm…” His voice faltered as he realized he was holding a completely different set of papers. He continued fumbling through all of his notes for the symptom checklist. After a moment of confusion, he realized that he had it in his other hand.

“Right, let’s go ahead and get you two checked out before everyone else gets home…” He straightened out the papers in his hand, unable to force his eyes to focus correctly, “It’ll only take a minute, but we need to get it done as soon as possible–do we have better lights in here? It’s hard to see with just the sun.”

His voice trailed off, and after a moment of relative silence he turned back to the kitchen. Juliet and Miles were standing with their heads close together near the sink, too distracted by each other to notice him. Miles was the first to see Dan looking at them, and he quickly jumped away from Juliet; his expression reminded Daniel of a dog that had been caught chewing on a table leg by its master.

Juliet turned around, noticeably calmer than Miles was. “Hm? Oh, Miles, can you get the lights please?” She nodded toward a switch on the far wall, near the entryway. Miles was already plodding over to the light switch and flicking it on. It didn’t do Daniel very much good, however.

“You finished that cup quickly; I’m assuming you’d like another one?” Or at least, that’s what Daniel thought she’d said. It was hard to hear, even though she couldn’t have been more than a few feet away. Trying to focus on anything other than his research was almost painful.

“That’d be good, thank you.” He was sure he’d thanked her at least five or six times by now.

Miles had plopped back down on the couch, peering curiously at the messy contents of his briefcase. “Soo… Are you gonna give me a lollipop when we’re done?” Daniel wasn’t able to smile and focus on his reading at the same time, so he took a moment to look at Juliet.

“Should he go first?” She was reaching up to grab something out of another cabinet, her blonde hair cascading over her shoulders. “I can wait.”

“Uhm, Miles? Do you want to go ahead and start?” Miles had already melted back into the couch, looking to make sure Juliet wasn’t watching as he took off his socks and carelessly kicked them under the table and out of sight.

“Go ahead and do your science thing.” Daniel nodded briskly as he tried to straighten up the papers on the pitifully small coffee table, moving aside a statuette of the goddess Bast to make way for all his research. After adjusting the doily beneath his briefcase, he stacked the symptom checklist papers on the table.

“Now, you have to answer all of these questions honestly, Miles–just like a real checkup.”

Miles feigned a pout, “You think I’d lie to you? Not that you’d be wrong, but _ouch._ ”

“Honestly and without joking,” Daniel wasn’t sure he could laugh and perform this correctly at the same time. He didn’t even notice Juliet delivering his coffee until he heard the clink of the mug being set down, and he wasted no time in taking a long sip.

“Alright, we have the standard… Full name, _Miles Straume_ , right?”

The assessment continued in much the same way. He didn’t trust himself to remember things like weight and height on his own, even though he’d heard Miles list off his information countless times on the freighter–other than his height, which he’d lied about several times.

“Any drug usage in the past thirty days?” He flipped to the next page of the symptom list. His eyes wandered a little too far down the page and caught the words ‘bloody nose’ toward the bottom. The words alone made his heart ache sharply.

Miles rolled his eyes. “Do I have to answer this one?” He turned to Juliet as if for assistance, but she only gave him a raised brow. “Fine,” he huffed, “but you’re not gonna go back and tell all your Ann Arbor buddies this, right? Doctor-patient confidentiality?”

“I’m not a doctor, Miles.”

“Right, okay. I _may_ have consumed illicit substances within the past thirty days–happy now?”

“Very.” Daniel moved to write down his findings, suddenly realizing that his pen was no longer in his hand. He swore he’d just had it there, where did it go?

He tried not to let the confusion fog his brain as he crouched down to feel around the shag carpet for it. The motion of crouching aggravated his headache and made him feel dizzy, but he chalked it up to the lack of sleep. He tried his best not to let it show. Finally, his bony hands grasped the cool surface of the pen, and he clutched it to his chest so as not to drop it. However, as he moved to stand up, a sudden wave of light-headedness hit him, so much so that he dropped onto the adjacent couch, dazed.

“Is something wrong, Daniel?” Juliet sat up from the sofa cushion, peering around Miles to look him over concernedly. It took him a moment for him to process the question.

“No, no, everything’s fine–just the tranquilizers, I think.” As soon as he was well enough to stand back up, he immediately reached for the coffee, trying to kickstart his brain again. This was serious research; it required a lot of focus.

“You can sit down, you know.” Miles gave him a once-over from his spot next to Juliet. Daniel couldn’t help but feel like they were staring at him.

He picked the checklist back up, waiting for his eyes to focus, but they just didn’t. The letters looked like they were put together nonsensically rather than making words, or they were way too small to focus on properly.

He stumbled through the rest of the exam, breathing a sigh of relief as he finished. Miles was okay, that was one weight off of his chest. He continued to trip over his words, get confused, lose his train of thought. He was exhausted, he knew that, but he didn’t usually show it this much. Then again, this was the most contact he’d had with other people in over a month.

Daniel gave himself a moment to breathe, having downed his coffee by now, but still not yet feeling the effects of the caffeine. He hated to be so clumsy and inarticulate, he should be more focused, but it felt like there was a fog filling his brain. It felt worse than before, actually. As soon as he drank that second cup it all went downhill–

“Woah, easy–“ He didn’t even notice he was falling until he hit the couch cushion. Miles, as short as he was, was able to help ease him onto the sofa. Immediately, the sudden movement made Daniel wince as his head throbbed angrily.

Juliet had remained seated where she was, watching him calmly. Miles drew back a little, looking over to her as if for help. She didn’t seem too concerned. He made a move to get up, realizing his arms felt strangely weak; almost too weak to push himself up off the couch.

“Uhm, I think–“ He lost his train of thought as soon as he’d received it, feeling like his head was full of sand. His head felt heavy, his eyelids felt heavy. Even a brisk shake of his head didn’t seem to help. “I don’t… I feel strange… I–“

His gaze slid up to meet Juliet’s, then went to his empty coffee cup. Oh.

“What… What’d you do?” He leaned forward with his head in his hands and his elbows resting on his knees, his voice sounding so small and far away. His eyes rested, unfocused, on the empty cup on the table.

“I’m sorry, Daniel.” Juliet blinked coolly. He glanced up at her, waiting for an explanation.

“I put some diphenhydramine in your coffee.” She admitted, holding his gaze.

  
“B-but it’s… It’s caffeine, I—”

“I switched it out with decaf.” Juliet countered him calmly, blinking and crossing her arms. He quickly turned to look at Miles, expecting his usual protectiveness, but he was staring as well.

“Sorry Dan.”

“You… You signed off on this?” Daniel once again tried to get up, but it felt like his head was filled with heavy weights. After a brief moment of dizziness so strong he felt suspended in midair, he dropped back onto the seat cushion.

“You’ve always been a really bad liar.” Miles stepped back with a shrug as Juliet walked over to steady him. The room felt like it was spinning.

Her hand fell on his shoulder, cool and gentle; it made his mind stall. She used her other hand to gently grab his papers and put them back into the briefcase.

“I… I don’t need to sleep,” he fought not to slur his words; if he didn’t focus on trying to act normal, his lashes would flutter, and his head would loll forward. The sunlight seemed brighter than before, casting the whole room in a dreamy, out-of-focus glow.

“Can you get a bottle of water and take it to the guest room, Miles?” Miles seemed hesitant to leave, but stepped to the fridge to grab a bottle, then bustled to one of the open doors in the hall. Daniel could see him closing the curtains in the room and fumbling with the bedsheets. Daniel heaved a sigh. He should have known he couldn’t lie to Juliet.

“I _did_ ask you nicely to lay down first,” The hand on his shoulder moved as she gently ran her fingers through the hairs at the nape of his neck, her cool touch seeming to soothe his headache in an instant. The insistent nag of guilt pulled at his chest; he should be _working_ , that’s what he’s here for. He shouldn’t be resting until… Until…

“You’re not going to be of any help to anyone in this condition, you know that.” She rebuked him gently. It was true, even before he was drugged, he had trouble focusing and thinking. But he thought he could just solider through it, he _knew_ he could. “We can pick up where we left off– _after_ you wake up.”

“Remind me never to drink anything you give me,” Miles exited the open room and went to stand on Daniel’s other side, frowning at Juliet.

“Okay. Don’t forget not to drink anything I give you,” she humored him, countering his frown with a raised brow. Miles leaned forward to take a closer look at Daniel.

“So, wanna tell me how long you’ve been going without sleeping? If your Ann Arbor pals knew you were living on coffee, they’d probably make you take a break too.”

“I don’t remember the last time I slept… I just. I don’t know.” He put his hands over his face, relishing the way it seemed to calm the throb in his head.

“Over forty-eight hours at the very least. You’ve been experiencing microsleeps; you fall asleep unconsciously for a few seconds at a time and wake disoriented.” Juliet’s fingers in his hair were making his brain fuzzy. He couldn’t remember the last time his mother had done that for him. It was a nice sensation, _too_ nice; he felt if he lost focus for a second, he might fall unconscious right then and there.

“I thought you were a fertility doctor.”

“Miles, we have this conversation every week. I had _doctor_ doctor training too.”

“Oh, yeah.”

Their banter, as entertaining as it was, sounded far away; as if he were underwater, or at the end of a long tunnel. God, his head felt heavy. Daniel could barely even hear them talk now, simply focusing on the feeling of Juliet’s fingers combing through his hair. It was a very nice sensation, almost hypnotic in his exhausted state.

“Daniel?... Alright, let’s get him to bed.” Daniel barely felt Juliet tugging on his shirt sleeve. Miles gave him a light-hearted shove to get him on his feet.

“Let’s go, sleeping beauty. Maybe you can count elements instead of sheep or something; whatever scientists dream about,” Miles piped up. Juliet helped him stand up, normally he’d apologize for leaning on her, but he was far too tired. Miles was at his other side, unable to do much but sling one of his arms around his shoulder.

“Hey, maybe this will teach you to not lie to Juliet–believe me, I’ve tried.”

Daniel let himself be guided gently down the hall and into the bedroom. The dimness inside felt like heaven compared to the bright, open-air living room. The fan was already on, spinning in lazy circles overhead. Miles hovered over him as Juliet eased him onto the bed.

“Easy… Easy… There, just lay back…” Juliet was always kind to him, he realized dazedly. She was the first one there for him after Charlotte died, she was always so gentle with him. He’d gotten sick not long after they arrived here, and she took care of him.

The medicine was really starting to kick in now, he let himself fall limply onto the pillow. Juliet gingerly pulled the blankets over him and smoothed his hair back out of his face.

“You can resume everything when you wake up.” She said gently, drawing away from the bed.

“Yeah, like clean up the papers you spilled all over the coffee table.” Miles joked, still standing at the bedside.

“Or the socks that you kicked under the table, Miles?” Daniel had already closed his eyes at this point, but he could hear Miles sigh defeatedly and head for the door, Juliet at his heels.

“Night, Dan.” He said, before leaving to presumably hide his socks somewhere else. Juliet was close behind him, presumably on her way to hunt down said socks.

“Goodnight, Daniel.”

**Author's Note:**

> hehe something lighthearted and nice. i might have the virus, so of course my first action was to write a self-indulgent fluffy sickfic which i put together in a few hours. don't worry, i'm still working on sbm! i just wanted to do a little something to get myself back into writing :3c read and review and all that


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